Critics question salary, residency of Weld County finance director

The office of Don Warden, interim director of finance and administration and budget manager for Weld County, sits empty and dark inside the the Weld County administration building on Tuesday in Greeley. Warden makes nearly $300,000 a year and works most of the month remotely from California. Commissioners argue Warden is deserving because he is a one-man show, which ultimately saves the county money.

As director of finance and administration, Don Warden is the closest thing to a county manager, but his duties are focused on the county budget, accounting and human resources.

Some counties have a county manager, a finance director, and a budget manager.

Most county governments employ a structure similar to Weld’s, in which publicly elected commissioners carry out both legislative and executive duties as their full-time jobs, so they don’t need a county manager.

Conversely, most municipalities have elected city council members who hire a city manager to carry out day-to-day operations, including the city of Greeley. Most of Greeley’s council members have other full-time jobs. They pass policies and set the budget, but entrust the city manager with carrying out those policies.

According to the National Association of Counties, nearly 60 percent of county governments across the nation have county commissioners who work full-time as executives and policy makers without a county manager.

On the flip side, 55 percent of municipalities across the U.S. hire a city manager to handle administrative issues, according to the National League of Cities.

Arapahoe, Boulder and Pueblo counties do not have county managers.

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What do they make?

Every governmental entity is different, and the responsibilities of managers and finance directors of each vary greatly.

That being said, here’s a look at the annual salaries of other top-ranking local, state and national public officials:

Finance directors

» Adams County: $133,000

» Arapahoe County: $135,000

» Larimer County: $136,406

» Boulder County: $116,281

Local public sector

» Roy Otto, Greeley city manager: $182,954

» Ranelle Lang, superintendent of Greeley-Evans School District 6: $202,154

» Marsi Liddell, president of Aims Community College: $199,986

» Kay Norton, president of the University of Northern Colorado: $277,500, plus $46,000 for a car and housing allowance

» Weld County commissioners (salaries set by the Weld County Council): $87,300

Colorado government

» Roxanne White, chief of staff in the Governor’s Office: $157,621

» Henry Sobanet, budget director in the Governor’s Office: $161,190

U.S. government

» Denis McDonough, White House chief of staff: $172,000

» Eugene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council and assistant to the president for economic policy: $172,000

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‘No comment’

Candidates for the next Board of Weld County Commissioners were reluctant to speak about Warden’s situation, saying it is a personnel matter and they would need more details to make a public comment.

Steve Moreno, Weld County clerk and recorder who is running for an at-large seat, said he was uncomfortable commenting on the situation, but said he has the utmost respect for Warden.

Lyle Achziger, former Evans mayor who is also running for the at-large seat, similarly said he did not know the details of Warden’s arrangement, but he said he trusts commissioners’ decision.

“For the short term, commissioners must feel it makes sense,” Achziger said. “I would say I am not in favor of that for the long-term.”

Julie Cozad, a former Milliken mayor pro tem who is running for the District 2 seat, said she had no comment.

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Weld County’s finance director is one of the highest paid public officials in Colorado, with a salary of nearly $300,000 per year. But county commissioners say he is worth every dime.

Don Warden, Weld’s former director of finance and administration, took on that role again when he was named interim director in February.

He lives in Bodega Bay, Calif. and works for the county mostly from home. He flies to Greeley to work in town about one week each month.

Warden is now making more than he has ever been paid in his 36 years with the county, at $295,400 per year, in addition to the pension he earns since he retired in 2002. Warden is also eligible for health insurance, life insurance, sick leave, vacations, holidays, and personal and bereavement days.

All of that compensation is justified, commissioners say, because of the institutional knowledge and skills that Warden brings to Weld County.

But some local officials and ethics watchdogs say Warden’s salary, at about double the rate nearby counties pay their finance directors, is unethical, especially in a county that takes pride in being fiscally conservative.

Critics also say Warden should be required to live where he works to effectively serve Weld County residents.

But commissioners say the county’s financial successes — and savings to taxpayers — over the years are largely thanks to Warden.

Weld County has no debt, no sales tax, a low mill levy and one of the largest contingency funds in the nation, commissioners say, and the county has received awards for excellent financial reporting and budgets from the Government Finance Officers Association for 32 years straight.

Weld County has weathered a recession and a 500-year flood with essentially no disruption in providing other services, and paid for a regional crime lab and a new administration building, transitioned to controlling a new dispatch center, and paid for a number of infrastructure improvements in cash, they say. “You can be penny wise and pound foolish. I think, in this case, the board is still saving the taxpayers a lot of money,” said Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway.

Others aren’t sold on the arrangement.

“There really is no justification to pay someone so far above the public sector and market rate,” said Luis Toro, director of Colorado Ethics Watch, a statewide watchdog group. “I really question, why do they have to create a sweetheart deal for someone to live in California when there are people living in Colorado to do this work?”

A ‘good value’

In Weld County, Warden is in charge of the budget, accounting and human resources, meaning he oversees the department heads of accounting, human resources and the Treasurer’s Office.

Nearly every county in Colorado differs a little in who is in charge of what, but most separate the duties of budget manager and finance director into two different jobs.

Out of the 10 most populous counties in Colorado, excluding the city and county of Denver, Weld County is the only one with just one budget employee.

Larimer County has two, and El Paso County has 17, according to the 10-County Budget Survey, a collection of data gathered for an annual conference in Breckenridge.

So while Warden makes much more than $135,000 per year — that’s about what Adams, Arapahoe and Larimer counties pay their finance directors — he does the jobs of a handful of employees, meaning Weld’s finance department as a whole operates on a much smaller budget.

Weld commissioners say they often consolidate the duties of their department heads.

When Pat Persichino was director of Public Works, he was also in charge of General Services. Now, Trevor Jiricek heads up General Services and the Department of Public Health and Environment.

“I think we are getting a pretty good value, when you look at our budgets,” said Weld Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer of the county’s expenditures on employees.

Still, Warden makes more than Larimer County’s county manager and financial director combined.

Warden is paid more than Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, who earns $172,000 per year.

Leonard Wiest, a former city manager for the city of Greeley, said even if the county is saving money, Warden should be required to live in Weld County.

“I think with technology today, it’s possible to work from just about anywhere. But the basic tenant of local government is you should be local,” Wiest said.

Greeley City Manager Roy Otto said he has continued a longstanding practice in Greeley of requiring all department heads to live within city limits.

When Joel Hemesath, Greeley’s director of public works, was promoted from his position as engineering development review manager, he lived in Evans, just a few blocks from Greeley’s city limit. Otto said he still required Hemesath to move to Greeley to accept the position.

“The citizens of this community are paying these people’s salaries, and we want people investing back into the community. That is one element,” Otto said of the residency policy. “The other is, we are involved in the process of making decisions based on Greeley, Colo., and we should be subject to the various decisions we are making at that level.”

Otto said residency also helps department heads build relationships with the people they are serving, and he said it is important for them to live nearby in case of an emergency.

Larimer County Commissioner Steve Johnson said he couldn’t speak to Weld County’s situation, but he said Larimer commissioners meet with their finance director at least once per month to talk about different issues.

“It might work,” Johnson said of having a department head who works from home most of the time. “I think it could work. But it’s not the way we do it.”

Working from home

Commissioners say institutional knowledge can’t be overlooked, which is why the county has a working retiree program.

Jeff Esser, CEO of the nationwide Government Finance Officers Association, said bringing on retired directors to fill a temporary vacancy is common practice. While it’s more expensive to pay an interim employee who is highly skilled, it is important to provide a consistent public service through the transition, especially because finding a replacement for such a key position can take up to 18 months, Esser said.

Jennifer Finch, spokeswoman for Weld commissioners, said commissioners plan to keep Warden as interim director through the rest of the year so the new board can decide on a replacement after the November election.

Esser said the situation of Weld County’s finance director poses a larger question about technology trends and changes in the workforce.

Warden pays his own way to fly to Greeley each month, and stays with relatives when he is here. He had a condo in Greeley, but sold it last year.

Warden said he has access to everything he needs from California, and he can always get a hold of commissioners and vice versa.

“I couldn’t live in California and do this probably 15 years ago,” Warden said of evolving technology.

Warden calls in on speaker phone for some meetings, and he said he communicates with his department heads daily, although he said they are highly competent directors who need little supervision.

Kirkmeyer said Weld County’s $256 million budget is similar to some large corporations, and Warden is the equivalent of a private company’s chief financial officer. It’s common practice for companies around the world to have a CFO in one state and a CEO in another, she said.

But Toro said government services can’t be outsourced. Not being in regular in contact with the public “damages responsive government,” he said.

The ‘quintessential professional’

Even though he retired 12 years ago, Warden served as the full-time director of finance and administration until 2009.

In 2010, when Warden’s title changed from finance director to budget manager, his salary was cut from $277,000 per year to $218,687. It then steadily rose to $254,000 in 2013.

According to Weld County Code, working retirees who work 20 hours per week or more under agreements signed before July 6, 2010, are grandfathered into being eligible for step pay increases. Working retirees also have a two-year cap, but can be granted an exception by the board of county commissioners.

Rob Masden, a Weld County commissioner from 2001-2008, said Warden is probably making somewhere around $500,000 per year, if his retirement is included in the tally.

But Masden said the fact that Warden receives a pension really shouldn’t be included in the equation of whether to hire him.

“They get it no matter what,” he said of working retirees’ pensions. “It’s hard not to consider, but you do have to separate it.”

Masden said Warden was like a county historian when he was commissioner, and played a key role in bringing Leprino Foods to Greeley and in a number of other projects that have spurred Weld County’s economy.

“He is making a lot of money,” Masden said. “You know commissioners are going to be having to answer some questions on that. So I mean, what’s he worth? I think he has proven and earned what he is getting paid.”

Masden added, “He has been a lot more than a finance director. The guy used to do his own filing and everything else. It was phenomenal. He is the quintessential professional.”